


Quédate

by captain_bucky_writesaswell



Series: Missing Scenes S02 QOTS [1]
Category: La Reina del Sur (TV), Queen of the South (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, James being sweet, Jealousy, Motel, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 14:11:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16220732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captain_bucky_writesaswell/pseuds/captain_bucky_writesaswell
Summary: Camila sends Teresa and James to meet with King George, but its the middle of the night and the drive is long. Jeresa, both tired, decide to stop at a motel. A leggy blonde and only one room left causes them some problems.(prompted from tumblr)





	Quédate

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts :' Jealous Teresa' and 'Two people sharing one bed trope'  
> Filling in some gaps in episode 201 :)  
> Thank you queenstephaniaa for the majority of the idea for this! :)

Teresa points to a purple stamp on the page, “It’s a code for a smuggler’s name, George Megalos.”

“Yeah, King George. I’ve heard his name.”

“So you know he works on the Texas coast? Making smuggling runs to and from south america? Guero kept track of all the kilos he was flying for him. Look at this-” Teresa runs her finger down a page of flight numbers, “you need a new route to bring in product, maybe he can help you.”

“One name - thats all you’re offering?”

“And my loyalty. Whatever you need.” Teresa swallows her words. Maybe they were a mistake, working with Camila Vargas was always going to land her in trouble.

“Would you die for me?”

“No, I’ll do better. I’ll survive for you.”

Camila raises her chin up at teresa, before standing and walking over around the edge of her desk to the window. She stares out to the evening sky, her back to Teresa, thinking over her offer.

Teresa stands, waiting, watching her like a hawk.

Camila lifts her phone from her side and sends a text, it wasn’t too long before James walked in to her office. He brings himself forward to stand in front of the desk next to Teresa. He gives her a glance before his eyes drop to the book in her hands causing his jaw to clench, _cursing in his mind the dirty red leather-bound notebook_. He can tell whatever information she has in that book, it was going to get her in even more trouble than it already had. If it weren’t for this book which Guero left her, Epifanio would have left her alone and she wouldn’t be in this mess.

He looks up to Camila.

“You will go with James to King George. Make a deal for him to ship for us. Leave now.”

James’ eyes widen. He’d heard of King George and his antics, _he’s a madman_.

“It’s gonna get late soon, he won’t appreciate us rolling up to him at 2am to do business.” James protests. He was tired, Teresa was tired. What was the point in them leaving now if they weren’t going to be on their a-game to make a deal?

Camila turns around slowly, her arms across her chest, to look him in the eyes.

“James…” she begins, and he holds his head up back into soldier mode, squaring his shoulders. “You will leave, when I tell you to leave.” Camila cocks her head to Teresa. “You have half an hour, then I want you gone.” Camila moves herself around the desk, past the duo and into her bedroom. Locking her door behind her.

Once the door was shut and Camila was gone, James let out a tired sigh, dropping his shoulders. Teresa turns her head tohim, “thank you” she says drowsily. She knew his objection to leaving immediately was so that they could both get some rest. The last few days had been hell for Teresa.

James meets her eyes and gives her a gracious nod. Teresa returns a small smile and walks out, James following close behind her.

 

He led her through the house to a small bedroom with a tiny en-suite with just enough room to manoeuvre around in.

“I’m sorry for the small room” James apologises as he stands by the open door, Teresa throwing her flannel shirt down onto the bed. She sighs, “don’t worry, I’ve stayed in worse” - referring to the cage Camila and James used to keep her in.

James closes his eyes in regret, bringing his head to his chest for a second before looking back up to her again. He kept her locked up. He hates himself for this. He knows that girls have always been currency with the cartels, but that doesn’t mean that he agrees with the idea. Yes, he moved her up to the slightly more pleasant living quarters after she nearly died delivering those bags of coke, but no amount of apology he could ever give could make up for how Camila treated her. Somewhere along the line he’d begun to care for Teresa. He doesn’t know when or how or why, but he began to want to protect her, to keep her safe. He didn’t want to admit this to himself, and so kept pushing it down like he always does with his feelings.

“I’ll come get you when we need to leave.’’ He turns his back on her, walking out of the room and leaving her to get some rest.

 

Teresa moved to stand in the bathroom doorway. It was empty, nothing but a washbasin, toilet and basic shower. It didn’t seem fitting, given what the luxurious state of the rest of the house, but it’d have to do.

She was exhausted, stuck between deciding to shower completely or just wipe the dirt and blood off of her face. Washing seemed like the faster option, leaving her more time to lay down on the bed to rest her aching body.

She stood in front of the sink, a large-ish mirror screwed to the tiles above the basin. She ran her hands through her hair before turning on the water, waiting for some sort of warmth to come running out. She used her hands to wipe away the mess on her face. The water got into her new cuts which stung a little, but Teresa was too tired to even care. She turned off the tap and patted her face dry with a hand towel, before coming out to the bedroom and slumping herself down onto the bed. She didn’t bother to take her boots off, she wasn’t going to be resting for long. Her heavy eyes closed, and she tried to get the brief relief of sleep.

 

Teresa was awoken by a gentle knock on her door. She raised herself sluggishly from the bed and sauntered over to the door. James was waiting outside, his eyelids heavy like hers. He hadn’t gotten any sleep either, opting to take a shower, change his shirt and put a hoodie on under his black denim jacket, before messaging around to gather more information on King George’s whereabouts and his operations.

“Lets go” he gestures down the hallway, his voice low and groggy. He shuts the door behind Teresa and they make their way out to his car.

 

Camila stood at her dimly lit office window. She had heard car doors opening and closing, and so decided to make sure that both of them were leaving for the job.

 

It was almost 11:30pm, and James and Teresa had already been driving for two hours. They didn’t talk in the car, just sat in silence with a radio station playing night time driving tunes in the background. They kept on looking over to each other every now and then, just to check that the other person was still alright. Teresa had noticed the thing he did with his hands when he was tired, the one where he runs them all down his face, over his eyes and through his scruff of a beard. It was a hard sign for her to miss, and he’d been doing it every five minutes or so for the last hour.

“Why don’t we stop?” She asked, longing for an actual form of rest. James looked at her, practically melted into her passenger’s seat. They had both now been awake for over 24 hours, and this long night time drive wasn’t going to be fair on either of them.

He picked up his phone from beside him, handing it over to her.

“Use the maps, find the nearest motel or something nearby.”

She scrolled quickly around through the maps app on his phone, finding the nearest one to the road ahead of them.

“Here’s one, ‘Sandy’s Dine and Drive In’, it says they’re open all night. It’s only a few miles down the road.” Teresa gestures the phone to him, holding it so he can see its location.

He takes a quick look, “okay” he sighs, before taking his phone back from her.

 

With James’ driving they reached Sandy’s in no time. The parking lot was almost full, and James managed to pull up in one of the few remaining spaces. He scanned around, observing all the possible exits and doors that he could find as they walked up to the reception room.There was a young, leggy blonde leaned over the reception desk, reading through the pages of some beauty and fashion magazine. Her eyes lit up as she saw James walk in, all tall and manly like he is. Teresa had fallen behind a little and so was, for now, out of sight from the blonde.

The blonde immediately puffed up her chest a little more towards James before she spoke - “Hi! Room just for you?” She asked, giving him a flirty grin, angling her chest in his direction whilst twirling a strand of her hair between her fingers.

Teresa could see the blonde woman’s attempts at flirting through the window as she walked through the door, walking to stand by James, maybe a little closer than she would normally. She already knew that the blonde would be trouble for James if he went _there._ She’d known women like her her entire life, the type who take a good guy for the night and then leave them hung out dry, only to call them a month later asking for money or something similar. They’d promise the world to the guy and then leave them up in the air, _again_. Teresa didn’t want that for James, he didn’t deserve it.

James doesn't return her flirting attempts. “For two” he nods his head sideways in Teresa's general direction, reaching to his back pocket and beginning to pull out his wallet. He could sense the scowling looks the two women were giving eachother, _was Teresa jealous of the blonde? Or was the blonde jealous of Teresa? Did she think they were a couple?_

After a few clicks on the computer the blonde looked back up to James and Teresa. “We’ve only got one double en-suite left tonight, is that okay?” She looked between the two of them.

James put his hand up on the reception desk, narrowing his eyes at her. “Are you sure that’s all you’ve got?”

“Yes.” She returns blankly.

James purses his lips and gives Teresa a glance, “we’ll find somewhere else.” He turns to gently touch her arm before beginning to walk away.

“We’ll take it.” The weariness in her words was obvious, causing James to stop in his tracks. “How much for the room?” Teresa asks the blonde while James makes his way back over to her side.

“80 for the night.”

James gives Teresa a questioning ‘are you sure’ look, before she nods and he pulls out his wallet, paying the $80 in cash for the night. The blonde pulls out a key from under the desk and hands it over to them before Teresa leads them both out of the room.

“You know there’s only one bed right?” James asks as he walks behind her, her head scanning the room numbers for their door.

“I don’t care. I’m tired, you are too” she huffs, facing him “-we need to rest.” He nods his agreement as he stuffs his hands into his jacket pockets, a sign of his - not _uncomfortableness_ but more like _anxiousness_ with their new found predicament. They'd never had to share a space other than a car before. “I’m gonna go grab some food from the diner, you want anything?”

Teresa puts the key in the door to room 63, “yeah, just- bring me back anything” _gosh she’s so beautiful when she’s tired._ James turned to walk back down the steps, and Teresa disappeared inside.

 

He was just about to walk through the double doors into the diner, when he noticed an all-night superstore open on the opposite side of the stretch of road. James jogged his way across the road and made his way in. He was in need of more cigarettes to start with, but thought that the store might also sell clothes. As he was following Teresa to their room, he noticed her shivering. She had only left Camila’s safe house in her jeans and thin grey henley top.

 

Teresa had thrown herself onto the bed. Looking around, the room was pretty plain. All of the walls were painted in an odd shade of orange, with the carpet a sort of deep brown colour. The bed was a similar shade as the walls, with an ugly blue runner folded along the edge. _Whoever decorated these rooms needs to go back to school_ she thought to herself. She didn’t bother to settle herself down yet though, as they only had one key, she would have to get up to let James in.

Just then, there was a nock on the door. She got up to turn the bolt.

James was stood on the other side, a white plastic bag in each hand. He handed one to Teresa as he walked in the door, kicking it shut behind him.

“What did you get?” She asks, peeking into the bag as she walks with it over to the small round table in the corner.

“Cheese burgers, nachos and fries I’m afraid. There’s sauces and drinks in there too.”

Teresa begins to take out the cardboard boxes and plastic cutlery from the bag, spreading everything out on the table. Meanwhile, James places his other bag on the bed, pulling out his pack of cigarettes, some candy bars, and something he bought for her.

“Here you go-”

“Hm?” She turns to face him, a salt covered fry half eaten in her hand.

James stands with a burgundy bomber jacket held out to her. She looks between him and the jacket before finishing the fry and wiping her hand on her jeans - “thank you” her tired voice hoarse as she speaks. She slips into it, trying it on for size, “It’s nice”.

“Yeah” James sniffs, “thought it’d look good on you” he declares as he moved to take his boxes of food from behind her. Teresa let herself give a small smile at his remark, to which he didn't see.

 

James sat on the bed whilst Teresa was on the chair in the corner as they ate. The small, old TV playing one of the five channels it had quietly in the background.

It was well past midnight, both of them were now even more tired because of the cheap feast they’d just eaten. They both wanted to sleep, but neither of them wanted to be the first to break the ice about the topic of the one bed that they had. Granted, it was a double bed. But it was a _small_ double bed.

James got up from the edge, tossing his rubbish into the trash before returning and grabbing one of the pillows and the disgusting blue throw.Teresa watched him in confusion as he lay out the throw on the floor at the foot of the bed, before bringing himself down on top of it and putting his head back on his hands on the pillow.

“What are you doing?” Teresa asked, shaking her head subtly.

James gestured up as he closed his eyes, “You can have the bed, I’ll stay on the floor.” _Such a gentleman_.

“Have you never shared a bed with a woman you hadn’t slept with before?”

James kept his eyes closed and didn’t offer a response. The truth was, no, he hadn’t. If it were any other woman, he wouldn’t care as much. But this was Teresa, he knew she was grieving from Brenda’s death, and he didn’t want to accidentally overstep his boundaries if they slept next to each other. He knew he was a hugger in bed. There had been many mornings where he’d woken up when he was younger with his arms wrapped around a woman, and he’d not known how she’d gotten encased by them. He didn’t want this to happen with Teresa.

Actually, _he did_. Recently he’d been finding that she popped up in his headspace as he slept to save him from his nightmares. Ever since she turned the car around to get him when they were running from the cops, he'd realised that he looked at her differently, more softly. Like she was an actual woman and not just another mule. She was his happy thought, even in their circumstances. He wanted to hold her, pull her into him to let her feel safe, let her know that he wasn’t going to let anybody hurt her. But he couldn’t.

 

Teresa reads between the lines, sensing that he just wants her to be comfortable. “Thank you” she whispers, before getting up to use the bathroom and then snake her way under the covers.

 

As tired as she was, she still couldn’t sleep. She’d been lying awake for half an hour just staring at the ceiling.James was grunting and huffing as he tossed on the floor. There may have been carpet beneath him, but it can’t have been all that comfortable.

Teresa pulled herself up and peered over the edge of the bed at him turning around, as if the carpet hairs poking through the thin blue throw were thorns in his sides. Teresa couldn’t help herself, she reached out her hand to touch his shoulder. She spooked him awake and he very quickly grabbed onto her arm and pulled her accidentally onto the floor with him. He rolled as she fell so now he was somewhat hovering on top of her. They were both breathing pretty heavily, both in shock, with no choice but to look into each other’s deep brown eyes.

James realised what he’d done. He pulled himself up and rested his back on the edge of the bed. Teresa sat herself up onto her knees in front of his feet.

“You shouldn’t wake me up like that. You okay?” He says, trying to catch the remainder of his breath.

Teresa nods, “I’m fine, look, just-” she sighs, “just come up onto the bed. You weren’t sleeping well and the noise of you moving around was keeping me awake too.” James moved his eyes to look past her at the floor, his cheeks feeling a little bit warm. She could see he was reluctant, and so stood up, holding out her hand to help him up - “please?”

James did that thing again where he runs his hand through his beard. _How could he ever say no to her?_

He took Teresa’s hand as he stood up, letting it go as she walked to get back into the bed first. The last person she’d shared a bed with was Guero, the rat that left her to die. And now she was next to James. They may have had a rocky start, but she could see that he was trying to help her, trying to get Camila to leave her alone. It was Teresa that chose to pull herself further into Camila’s business. And wether she initially wanted it or not, she had a relationship with James. A relationship which was growing and changing into something else, maybe even something more someday?

They lay next to each other, looking up at the ceiling. Teresa watched him out of the corner of her eye, “goodnight James”. She turned to see his face fully, before rolling over on her side to point away from him.

“Night Teresa” James responded. She’d never heard him speak her name so softly, and she couldn’t lie that even in her grief and tiredness, _it did things to her inside_.

James lay and found himself staring at her next to him for a few minutes. Her breathing had slowed and evened out, so he knew she was asleep. It wasn’t long before he found himself drifting off too.

 

For the first time in a long time, they both slept peacefully. No dreams or nightmares, just comfortable sleep.

 

Teresa was the first to wake up. It was around 9:30am.

She felt a heavy something pushing down on her side as her eyes fluttered open. When she was more aware, she slowly peeked down and saw his large hand pressed warmly against her abdomen. _Was this really happening?_ The feeling of his chest rising up and down against her back made her fully realise that they were much closer together than how they had left off. But they were even closer than that - his legs were tucked up behind hers, and he was almost pressed flush against her. Teresa couldn’t help but smile to herself as she felt him adjust his body behind her. He was sound asleep, his breath tickling the base of her neck, and she couldn’t quite tell if his forehead was pressed to the top of her neck or not. _It was._

As she felt and heard him begin to stir awake, she thought she’d save him some embarrassment by wiggling herself gently out from under his arm. Their relationship was getting better, but they definitely weren’t in any position to be cuddling like this in the morning.

James woke up alone, a little further on Teresa’s side of the bed than he thought he should be. He brought his hands up and ran them over his face, thumbing away the sleep from the inside corners of his eyes. He gave his beard a good scratch before he rolled over. The bathroom door was shut and he could hear the shower water running, and small voice singing;

“Quédate junto a mi, que no puedo vivir sin tu amor... quédate di que si esta noche solo de los dos... solo tu y yo.” _["Stay with me, because I can't live without your love... stay, say you'll stay, this night is ours... its only for you and me."]_

James didn’t recognise the song, but it sounded beautiful coming from Teresa’s voice.

 

He got himself out of the bed and tidied himself up before Teresa came out of the bathroom. He’d attempted to make the bed, haphazardly throwing the cover over the mattress and briefly patting it down flat.

“Is that seriously how you make your bed?” She was shocked that this, of all things, this was the one thing that James couldn’t do successfully.

“What’s wrong with that?” He points to the scrunched sheets and jumbled pillows.

“It’s a mess!” Teresa pokes fun at his incompetence. James rolls his eyes at her obsessiveness over a tidy bed as she makes her way over to the corner of the bed frame. “Look, you pick up the corner... fold it like this... and then tuck it under the mattress” she moves over to the other corner, doing the same thing. She works her way around the bed, tucking in all of the edges and flattening the sheet, before folding up the blue runner over the edge of the bed, and organising the pillows.

“What was the point? They’re going to clean the room anyway” James picks up his wallet, keys and phone from the table.

“Well you don’t want that blonde thinking that we slept together do you?” Teresa knows full well that he indeed held her in his arms all night.

He narrows his eyes at her as she slips on the burgundy bomber jacket that he bought for her, _was she jealous?_

 

He followed her out of the room and to the car. Teresa went to hand back the room key whilst James made a call to Camila.

“Did you get the deal with King George?”

“Not yet” he paces by the side of his car. “We stopped off a few hours into the drive, I was too tired I couldn’t drive safely anymore. We’re on our way now to meet him.”

“Good, don’t think about coming back without the deal James.” And like that, Camila hung up the call. Their relationship had always been strictly professional, but sometimes he thought that he deserved more respect from her than that. He’d always get a job done, no matter what.

“We good?” Teresa stood by the hood of the car.

“Yeah, lets go”.

 

He felt his emotions surfacing from deep inside his chest as he looked at her, he could feel the flickering building up in his eyes. So he did what he does best, he looked away and swallowed it all back down. He could see she was hurting, see that she was in pain.

“Everything in life has a price. Brenda was my best friend” her tears almost beginning to fall down her cheeks as she tries to smile through it all.

Teresa looks away from him, pursing her lips, trying to hold it all in - “She’s not coming back.” Teresa can’t control it anymore, the pain of all she’s been through. So she lets it all out - “It hurts so much-” Teresa cries out into her hands.

James immediately steps towards her to be by her side, and she once again looks at him through her watery eyes. _Please don’t cry._ He brings his left hand up and places it on her back, hoping to provide some comfort for her as she cries. His heart breaks for her when she looks at him. He says nothing, he wants to say something but _what can he say that would make this better?_

He moves forward again a little closer, offering up the space between his arms. He only gives her a slight pull with his right hand before she falls forward into his embrace, surprised at her eagerness for him to hold her. Teresa cried onto his jacket, settling into his chest as she grips on to his arms for support. He moves his hand up and down her back as he holds her. He’s her rock now. This was the moment where he decided that he was going to protect her at all costs.

**Author's Note:**

> hehe


End file.
